We get a lot of questions about the effectiveness of low carbohydrate diets, and how this fits into their plan here. They come into the consultation with some myths in their heads and I am ready to bring them down.
- Your body still needs carbohydrates, just the right carbohydrates: When people think of carbohydrates they tend to think of food items like cookies, cakes, bread, pasta, etc. Most people don’t associate carbohydrates with vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. These are called complex carbohydrates that provide nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals versus simple carbohydrates that do not provide nutrients. While the effectiveness of low carbohydrate diets do rely on how many carbohydrates are consumed, this is really related to simple carbohydrates like bread, pasta, etc. versus those from vegetables.
- Low carbohydrate diets: You probably think of programs like Atkins and the Keto diets when thinking about low carbohydrate plans, often yielding a very low carbohydrate plan. The goal behind these diets is to achieve what is called nutritional ketosis by consuming a diet that is low in carbohydrates so that the contents of fat cells are released to your liver to convert to ketones, therefore utilizing those ketones as energy and decreasing body fat. However, many of these diets call for a very low carbohydrate intake of less than 20g per day. While the rapid weight loss may be desirable, this type of plan is unfortunately not sustainable and chances are that most of the weight lost is from water.
These are the two main myths that people have misconceptions about with low carbohydrate diets. It is important to remember that these diets offer more of a quick fix, and that is why they are known as a fad diet. While they may offer a rapid weight loss initially (that is typically more of a water weight loss versus fat loss), they do not offer support into maintenance to prevent the need to begin another weight loss plan.
At Med-Fit we give you the tools to lose weight, as well as the tools to smoothly transition to a maintenance weight and keep it off so that you will never feel stuck and hopeless in a fad diet again. Schedule an appointment and let’s get started!
Dr. Angela Tran D.O.
